Africa Anger At US 'Rendition' Of Refugees Who Fled Somalia

Taken from The Independent, 23 March 2007
By Steve Bloomfield in Nairobi

At least 150 people arrested in Kenya after fleeing violence in Somalia have been secretly flown to Somalia and Ethiopia, where they are being held incommunicado in underground prisons, human rights groups say.

It is alleged they were questioned by US and British officials.

Flight manifests seen by The Independent show that three charter planes left Nairobi for Somalia's capital Mogadishu, and Baidoa, the seat of parliament, in January and February, carrying around 80 people suspected of links with al-Qa'ida. The flights left at night, and the manifests appear to have been filled in hastily with many of the details, including the plane's destination, left blank.

Several of the suspects are understood to be held in underground prisons at Mogadishu airport where they are held shackled to the wall. Most have since been sent on to two detention facilities in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia has been accused of routinely torturing political prisoners. A further 50 or 60 people accused of belonging to Ethiopian rebel groups fighting alongside Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts were sent directly to Ethiopia.

Fighting has reignited in Mogadishu this week following Ethiopia's lightning offensive at the end of last year, which drove the Somali Islamists from the capital. On Wednesday at least 21 people were killed and more than 120 wounded in clashes that led to the burning of five uniformed soldiers, who were either Somali or Ethiopian.

The televised incident was reminiscent of events of 1993 when Somalis dragged the corpses of US soldiers through the streets, hastening the US withdrawal from the country.

The suspects deported from Kenya were interrogated beforehand by American FBI officials in Kenyan prisons, where they were accused of having links with al-Qa'ida.

"This is extraordinary rendition," said Maini Kiai, chairman of the Kenya National Human Rights Commission. "Britain and America are involved in interrogating suspects."

Following the US-backed invasion of Somalia by Ethiopian troops, thousands of Somalis have tried to escape the violence by crossing the long, porous border with Kenya. Many of those caught on the Kenya-Somalia border were accused of belonging to the Islamic Courts and refused entry.

At least 150 of those who managed to get through were detained by Kenyan police, including 17 women and 12 children, one a baby of seven months. Many needed medical attention but did not receive it, including a pregnant Tunisian woman who had a bullet lodged in her back.

All were held in Kenyan prisons for several weeks without access to lawyers and family members. As well as being interrogated by the FBI, human rights groups in Nairobi also claimed British officials were involved.

"The Americans had direct access to the prisoners, one on one," said Al-Amin Kimathi of the Muslim Human Rights Forum, adding that US diplomatic vehicles carried the suspects from Nairobi police stations to be questioned.

"Senior Kenyan police officers told us they had nothing to do with the operation," said Mr Kimathi. "It was out of their hands."

Four of the people taken to Somalia were British. But the day after they arrived in Mogadishu, they were questioned by British diplomats then released.

The US has claimed that Somalia's Islamic Courts, which controlled much of the country until December, was run by an al-Qa'ida cell. Ethiopian troops, backed by US intelligence and logistical support, overpowered the Islamic Courts within a few days of fighting at the end of last year. An interim Somali government, which had been confined to its base in Baidoa, has since taken control of Mogadishu, but guerrillas linked to the Islamic Courts have launched an insurgency with almost daily attacks against government and Ethiopian troops. Ugandan peacekeepers, operating under the auspices of the African Union (AU) have also been subjected to attacks since they arrived in the capital last week.

One diplomat who follows events in Somalia closely said reports of interrogation by US officials were "highly plausible". The deportation of the foreign nationals was "one of the prices we pay for the situation we are in".

Anger over the treatment of Kenyan Somalis trying to cross the border has intensified. Groups based in Mombasa have threatened to disrupt this weekend's world cross-country championships. The US embassy in Nairobi has issued a terror alert, warning that an attack may be carried out during the event.

Descent into chaos
# October 1993: Two US Black Hawk helicopters shot down over Mogadishu. Rescue leaves 18 # US soldiers dead. Images of dead Americansdragged through streets prompts pullout.
# August 2000: Abdulkassim Salat Hassan elected President by tribal leaders and senior figures. He appoints Ali Khalif Gelayadh as his Prime Minister. In October they arrive in Mogadishu.
# April 2001: Ethiopian-backed warlords announce intention to form government. More fighting ensues.
# August 2004: Transitional parliament inaugurated in Kenya. In October, Abdullahi Yusuf appointed President.
# November 2005: Assassination attempt on Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi. Six die but the PM survives.
# February 2006: Transitional parliament meets for the first time since being appointed.
# March-May 2006: Fiercest fighting in almost a decade between rival militias in Mogadishu leaves dozens dead and hundreds injured.
# June-July 2006: Islamic militias seize control of the capital and southern parts of the country.
# December 2006: American-backed Ethiopian and government troops engage and defeat Islamic militias, driving them out of Mogadishu.
# March 2007: Pitched battles break out between insurgents and government and Ethiopian troops. Clashes in Mogadishu result in more pictures of the bodies of soldiers being dragged through the city.

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The following is a good explanation of what is happening in Somalia...

The Big Question: What's going on in Somalia, and is the Horn of Africa on the brink of war?
(from The Independent Published: 08 December 2006)

Why is this an issue now?
Because the UN security council unanimously adopted a resolution on Wednesday night providing for the dispatch of foreign peacekeepers to Somalia, which has triggered warnings that the move will spark all-out war and a regional conflagration. The peacekeepers were authorised to support the weak, unpopular transitional government which has international backing even though it only controls just one town in Somalia, Baidoa. The rest of the desperately poor Horn of Africa country, including the capital Mogadishu, is controlled by a loose coalition of Islamists known as the Union of Islamic Courts, whose fighters have swept across the country since June.

Is that a problem then?
The Americans and their Ethiopian allies think so because of their fear that al-Qa'ida is gaining a foothold in Somalia which had been in the grip of warlords since 1991, following the overthrow of the Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. Washington says Somalia is a haven for those who carried out the US embassy bombings in Nairobi and Tanzania. The transitional government, which was formed two years ago under UN auspices, says it has proof that Islamic radicals from such places as Yemen and Chechnya have been pouring into the country to fight on the side of the Islamic courts.

But the Islamic courts - a purely Somali movement - do include many moderates and have bolstered their popularity by establishing law and order in the regions of southern Somalia which they now control. (The hardliners have shut down some cinemas and told radio stations not to play foreign music.)

The UN itself further poured fuel on the fire when a report by an expert panel claimed that 720 fighters from the Islamic courts had fought alongside Hizbollah during the Lebanon war last summer. The same report also accused Iran of attempting to buy uranium from the Islamists in return for weapons. The report named 11 countries that had violated an arms embargo in force since 1992 by sending weapons to one side or the other. However some of these claims seemed far-fetched to say the least. It was unusual for a UN report, whose conclusions are usually authoritative, to be queried by experts as this one was. But the most dangerous development has been the intervention of outside forces in Somalia as the Islamic courts have gained territory.

Who's involved in the conflict?
Mainly Ethiopia and Eritrea so far. Ethiopia, a largely Christian country which is terrified of an Islamist state on its border, is reported to have deployed up to 8,000 troops in Somalia in defence of the transitional government. The Ethiopian government denies that troops are present and only admits to military advisers. However witnesses last month described the killing of six Ethiopian soldiers and wounding of 20 in a gun battle after Islamic fighters opened fire on a convoy of 80 trucks heading to Baidoa. Eritrea, which fought a bitter 30-year war of independence from Ethiopia, is believed to have a smaller number of troops supporting the Islamic courts.

How did the UN security council get involved?
The security council is supporting a peace process that is supposed to lead to a political settlement as a result of talks between the transitional government and the Islamists - which have so far gone precisely nowhere.

The US has been pressing for the UN partially to lift the arms embargo on the ground that the military expansion by the Islamic courts had created the need for a regional force to stabilise the situation inside the country. Resolution 1725 adopted on Wednesday authorised a regional force of 8,000 to protect the transitional government. It urged the Islamic courts to stop any further military expansion and carry on with the peace talks. It also specified that "those states that border Somalia would not deploy troops " to that country - thereby ensuring that neither Ethiopia nor Eritrea would be part of the peacekeeping force.

However it did not call on the foreign forces believed to be inside the country to pull out. The resolution threatened UN action against those who block peace efforts or attempt to overthrow the government, which could include targeted sanctions.

Britain, like the US a permanent member of the security council, voted in favour but did not join the US in co-sponsoring the resolution amid concerns that the Islamists would see the authorisation of peacekeepers as a provocation and intensify the conflict. Those concerns are shared by some members of the East African group Igad, which is sponsoring the Somalia peace process.

What has been the reaction to the UN decision?
Delight, as you might expect, in Baidoa where the transitional government is based. The Islamic courts were predictably furious. Ethiopia said that the peacekeeping force should have been authorised two years ago, when it was originally proposed, while Eritrea complained that the move was "an attack on the Somali people". The US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, dismissed accusations that the foreign peacekeepers - expected to come from Uganda and possibly Sudan - would inflame tensions further. He said that the UN was always being accused of not acting in time, and that this is an opportunity to have a regional force in place to prevent the situation from getting worse.

Is there a danger of a wider war?
Very much so, and possibly as soon as the rainy season ends later this month. A likely scenario that has given diplomats the jitters is that the Islamic courts fighters move on Baidoa, which Ethiopia would take as a signal to invade in support of the transitional government and to prevent the Islamists from destabilising parts of Ethiopia. And behind Ethiopia stands America - although in the light of the 1993 US debacle in Somalia it can be safely assumed that no American troops will ever head back to Mogadishu.

The Horn of Africa has long been a cauldron of clan warfare and proxy wars, and nobody wants a return to the kind of conflict seen in 1977-78 between Somalia and Ethiopia over the Ethiopian Ogaden region. The last thing the Somali people need is more outside intervention.

It is hoped, however, that instead of deepening the conflict, the UN move will heighten the political pressure on both sides in Somalia to reach a political settlement, as it will take many months before any foreign peacekeepers can be deployed. But diplomats admit that there is a question mark hanging over the continued international recognition of the transitional government.

Should peacekeeping forces intervene in Somalia?

Yes...
* The Somalis have known nothing but war, drought and famine for decades. The peace they deserve can only be imposed from outside
* Somalia could be a hot-bed of international terror unless foreign troops intervene
* African peacekeepers should be sent in as soon as possible to stop the conflict spreading and engulfing the region

No...
* Foreign intervention has, if anything, made Somalia's problems worse in the past rather than solving them
* The transitional government is deeply unpopular and deserves to be ousted by its Islamist rivals without external involvement
* It will take too long for peacekeepers to be deployed, so they will not be able to prevent the conflict from escalating